The More Things Change

Three 'Wee Films' invite us into the moment, at the intersection of stasis and change.

In 2020 I found myself wanting to explore the nature of two seemingly opposing forces, permanence and impermanence. I wanted to understand how we as humans manage them and where the balance is. How do we root ourselves in a world where so much seems to be in flux, and out of our control? How do we change things around us that seem to be immutable, immovable?

To enter into these questions I turned inwards to reflect on my experiences of uninvited change (loss) and outwards to nature and the world around me looking for some connection between the two. 

My ‘wee films’ are part of that exploration. They aren’t an answer, they are an opening or 'an offering', as one friend described them. Each of the three films below is set on Portobello Beach in Edinburgh, Scotland. It's where I have lived for 24 years, and where I brought up my children, although I know I won't be there forever. 

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Film 1: Solitude

The first step was to listen to myself and to nature. Let each speak to the other. This required aloneness, space, time and water, inside and out. 

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Film 2: Macphail, 2024

I entered into a creative dialogue with the work of a local artist who explores the nature of transience. Sometimes it felt more like an argument than a dialogue. The child in me railed against the idea that objects built through time and care can be so easily destroyed – swept away by the advancing tide, for example. But of course they can. The adult in me knows this full well. 

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Film 3: Groyne, 2024

For those of you who don’t know what a groyne is, it is a large structure, often wooden, that is placed on a beach to prevent the sand from shifting. Six of these were built on Portobello beach in the 1970s. They are, in my opinion, beautiful objects with a beautiful purpose. By the time I made this film I had started to collaborate with my youngest brother, Julian Tallach, who adds the music. 

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Anna Tallach is a psychology lecturer, historian of psychology, writer, and filmmaker who lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. She has recently contributed a chapter on early twentieth century theories of emotion to the forthcoming edition of Emotion Theory: The Routeledge Comprehensive Guide, and is developing a project about Hugh Miller, a renowned nineteenth century Scottish geologist, as well as a series of lyric essays. She last wrote for Certain Age on the radical power of women's laughter in The Laughter of the Medusas.

Image: Groyne, Portobello Beach, still from the Wee Film 'Groyne,' by Anna Tallach.